asia
A defense minister and 2 former governors vie for Indonesia’s presidency
Indonesians on Wednesday will elect the successor to popular President Joko Widodo, who is serving his second and final term.
It is a three-way race for the presidency among current Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and two former provincial governors, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo.
Subianto, who is widely seen as the front-runner, has picked Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his running mate.
About 205 million people are eligible to vote in the world's third-largest democracy and the most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Here is some information about the candidates and their running mates.
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PRABOWO SUBIANTODefense Minister Prabowo Subianto is the only candidate with links to the 1967-98 Suharto dictatorship, when he was a lieutenant general.
A longtime commander in the Kopassus special forces, he was dishonorably discharged in 1998 after Kopassus soldiers kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Suharto, his then-father-in-law. Of 22 activists kidnapped that year, 13 remain missing. Subianto never faced trial, although several of his men were tried and convicted.
He went into self-exile in Jordan for several years before returning and founding the Gerindra Party in early 2008. He ran for the presidency twice, losing to current President Joko Widodo both times.
He refused to acknowledge the results but accepted Widodo's offer of the defense minister position in 2019, a bid for unity.
Polls show 72-year-old Subianto well ahead of his two rivals, though perhaps not with the majority needed to avoid a runoff. While he is the oldest candidate, his running mate is the youngest: 36-year-old Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Widodo's son.
Raka is below the statutory minimum age of 40 but was allowed to run under an exception created by the Constitutional Court — then headed by Widodo's brother-in-law — allowing current and former regional governors to run at age 35.
Subianto has had close ties with hard-line Islamists whom he used to undermine his opponents.
He has vowed to continue Widodo's economic development plan, in what experts view as an attempt to draw on Widodo’s popularity. He is strongly opposed by human rights activists, who associate him with torture and disappearances during the final years of the Suharto dictatorship.
Read:Pakistan hits back at criticism of election conduct and insists cellphone curbs were necessary
GANJAR PRANOWOGanjar Pranowo is the governing party candidate, but does not have the support of Widodo, who has distanced himself from the party's campaign and is seen as implicitly backing Subianto and Raka, his son.
Pranowo was a national legislator for the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle for 10 years before being elected in 2013 for the first of two terms as Central Java governor.
While governor, he refused to allow Israel to participate in the Under-20 FIFA World Cup to be held in his province. FIFA subsequently dropped Indonesia as host of the games, triggering a backlash against Pranowo from soccer fans. Israel and Muslim-majority Indonesia do not have diplomatic ties.
He has been a less enthusiastic backer of Widodo's policies than Subianto.
“We want to develop Indonesia faster and continue the good things that have been done by the current government, to fix what is not good enough and to leave the bad ones,” Pranowo said.
His running mate is Mohammad Mahfud, who resigned as security minister to focus on campaigning. He is also a former defense minister, justice minister and chief justice of the Constitutional Court.
ANIES BASWEDANAnies Baswedan, the former head of an Islamic university, served as governor of Jakarta until last year after winning a divisive election in 2017 against an ethnic Chinese Christian incumbent backed by Widodo.
Baswedan, a former Fulbright scholar, had been education and culture minister from 2014 to 2016, when Widodo removed him from the Cabinet.
Backed by conservative Muslim groups, he galvanized hundreds of thousands to take to the streets in 2016 against the Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was then imprisoned on blasphemy charges after quoting the Quran in a speech. Baswedan was seen as using the controversy to successfully run for governor.
His use of religious identity politics in the 2017 election distanced him from moderate Muslims. His choice of Muhaimin Iskandar as his running mate in Wednesday's election is viewed as an attempt to rebuild that support.
Iskandar’s Islam-based National Awakening Party has strong ties with Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, which boasts over 45 million members.
Baswedan opposes Widodo's signature plan to move Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to Nusantara on the island of Borneo, about 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away, which involves constructing government buildings and housing from scratch.
He said in an interview with The Associated Press last month that democracy in Indonesia is declining, referring to Subianto's choice of Widodo's son as his running mate, and pledged to get it back on track.
“This means that there is a decline in trust, it means that our democracy is experiencing a decline in quality, it means that many legal rules are being bent,” he said.
Allies of ex-premier Imran Khan secure biggest share of seats in Pakistan's final election tally
Allies of imprisoned Pakistani ex-premier Imran Khan won more seats in national elections than the political parties who ousted him from power nearly two years ago, according to a final tally of results published Sunday.
The vote last Thursday to choose a new parliament was overshadowed by allegations of vote-rigging, an unprecedented mobile phone shutdown, and the exclusion of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, from the vote.
People from the PTI ran as independent candidates because of moves by the Election Commission and Supreme Court to cripple their party’s participation. One step included stripping the party of its electoral symbol, which helps illiterate voters find candidates on the ballot. Another was banning party rallies.
Khan, who was kicked out of office through a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022, has been in prison since last August. He was barred from contesting the vote because of his criminal convictions and contends his sentences and the slew of legal cases against him are politically motivated.
The final tally showed that independent candidates secured 101 out of 266 seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N party, or PML-N, led by three-time premier and ex-felon Nawaz Sharif, secured the second biggest number of seats at 75.
The Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP, led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, came in third with 54 seats. One result has been withheld and another vote was postponed because of a candidate’s death. The campaign to kick Khan out of office in 2022 was led by the PML-N and the PPP.
No party has won a majority to form a government, so Pakistan will have a coalition. The new parliament chooses the country's next prime minister.
The election result is an embarrassment for Sharif, who was marked out as the powerful security establishment's preferred candidate because of his smooth return to the country last October. Pakistan’s military has always cast itself as the ultimate arbiter in who becomes prime minister.
Sharif spent four years in self-exile abroad to avoid serving prison sentences but his convictions were overturned within weeks of his arrival in Pakistan.
Even on polling day, Sharif insisted he didn't want a coalition and demanded a full five-year term for one party. By Friday evening, seeing his party trail behind the independent candidates backed by Khan, he spoke of alliances and joining hands.
Sharif has never completed a term in office.
Year of the Dragon flames colorful festivities across Asian nations
With fireworks, feasts and red envelopes stuffed with cash for the kids, numerous Asian nations and overseas communities have welcomed Saturday the Lunar New Year.
It begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends 15 days later on the first full moon. The dates of the holiday vary slightly each year, falling between late January and mid-February as it is based on the cycles of the moon,
Festivities to mark the Year of the Dragon in Taiwan were marked by appearances by newly elected president Lai Ching-te and the speaker of the Legislature, Han Kuo-yu, who represents the opposition Nationalist Party that favors political unification with China.
In her address, Tsai said Taiwan faced a continuing conflict between “freedom and democracy versus authoritarianism” that “not only affects geopolitical stability, but also impacts the restructuring of global supply chains.”
“These past eight years, we have kept our promises and maintained the status quo. We have also shown our determination and strengthened our national defense,” Tsai, who is barred by term limits from seeking a third four-year term, said in reference to the self-governing island democracy's close economic ties but fraught political relations with China which threatens to invade the island to realize its goal of bringing Taiwan and its high-tech economy under its control.
Taiwan, China and other areas saw highways clogged and flights fully booked as residents traveled home to visit family or took the approximately one-week holiday as an opportunity to vacation abroad.
Firing bottle rockets and other fireworks is a traditional way of welcoming the new year and seeing off any lingering bad memories. Children are given red envelopes stuffed with cash as a show of affection and to help them get a leg-up in the coming months.
Long lines of cars congested South Korean highways on Saturday as millions of people began leaving the densely populated Seoul capital region to visit relatives across the country for the Lunar New Year’s holiday.
Royal palaces and other tourist sites were also packed with visitors wearing the country’s colorful traditional “hanbok” flowing robes. Groups of aging North Korean refugees from the 1950-53 civil war, which remains unresolved, bowed northward during traditional family rituals held in the Southern border town of Paju.
The holiday came amid heightened tensions with North Korea, which has been ramping up its tests of weapons aimed at overwhelming regional missile defenses and issuing provocative threats of nuclear conflict with the South.
The South's President Yoon Suk Yeol started the holiday by issuing a message of thanks to South Korean soldiers, saying that their services along the “frontline barbwires, sea and sky” were allowing the nation to enjoy the holidays.
Vietnam also celebrated the Lunar New Year, known there as Tet.
Parades and commemorations are also being held in cities with large Asian communities overseas, particularly in New York and San Francisco.
Pakistan hits back at criticism of election conduct and insists cellphone curbs were necessary
Pakistan on Saturday hit back at criticism over the conduct of its parliamentary elections, which were held amid sporadic militant attacks and an unprecedented stoppage of all mobile phone services.
The strongly worded reaction from the Foreign Ministry insisted the vote was peaceful and successful.
The U.S. State Department said that Thursday's vote was held under undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The European Union has also said it regrets the lack of a level playing field due to the inability of some political actors to contest the elections.
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The ministry said it was surprised by "the negative tone of some of these statements, which neither take into account the complexity of the electoral process, nor acknowledge the free and enthusiastic exercise of the right to vote by tens of millions of Pakistanis”.
It said such statements “ignore the undeniable fact that Pakistan has held general elections, peacefully and successfully, while dealing with serious security threats resulting primarily from foreign sponsored terrorism."
It said there was no nationwide internet shutdown and “only mobile services were suspended for the day to avoid terrorist incidents on polling day."
In Thursday's vote, no political party gained a simple majority and independent candidates backed by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan took a lead in the vote count.
It forced Khan's main rival, three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, to announce plans to try to form a coalition government. Khan was disqualified from running because of criminal convictions.
Candidates backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won 100 out of the 266 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party captured 71 seats.
Read: Pakistan's ex-PM Sharif says he will seek coalition government after trailing imprisoned rival Khan
Also Saturday, the leader of a political party was wounded and two police officers killed in a clash in the country's northwest.
The violence broke out in North Waziristan when Mohsin Dawar and his supporters tried to march toward an army facility while protesting delays in announcing the election result, police official Zahid Khan said.
Indian gov't announces highest civilian awards for 2 ex-PMs, agricultural scientist
The Indian government announced on Friday that two former prime ministers, Chaudhary Charan Singh and P. V. Narasimha Rao, as well as renowned agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan, will be honored with the country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.
Singh served as prime minister from July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980.
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Rao, associated with the Indian National Congress party, served as prime minister from June 21, 1991 to May 16, 1996.
Swaminathan is popularly known as the father of the Green Revolution in India.
Pakistan's ex-PM Sharif says he will seek coalition government after trailing imprisoned rival Khan
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif changed tack on Friday and said he will seek to form a coalition government after his party trailed independent candidates backed by his rival Imran Khan in parliamentary election results.
Sharif told supporters he was sending his younger brother and former premier, Shehbaz Sharif, to meet the leaders of other parties and invite them to join the coalition.
Nawaz Sharif had gruffly rejected the idea of a coalition just a day earlier, when he told reporters after casting his vote that he wanted a single party running Pakistan for a full five-year term.
“We don’t have enough of a majority to form a government without the support of others and we invite allies to join the coalition so we can make joint efforts to pull Pakistan out of its problems,” he said in the eastern city of Lahore. He also asked independent candidates with a parliamentary seat to enter the coalition.
“I don't want to fight with those who are in the mood for fighting," he said. “We will have to sit together to settle all matters.”
Pakistan votes for a new parliament as militant attacks surge and jailed leader's party cries foul
He spoke after results earlier Friday showed candidates backed by imprisoned Khan leading in the election, a surprise given claims by his supporters and a national rights body that the balloting was manipulated against Khan.
A former cricket star turned Islamist politician with a significant grassroots following, Khan was disqualified from running in Thursday’s election because of criminal convictions against him. He contends his sentences and a slew of legal cases pending against him were politically motivated.
His party’s candidates were forced to run as independents after they were barred from using the party symbol — a cricket bat — to help illiterate voters find them on ballots.
Of the 221 National Assembly results announced by the election oversight body by Friday night, candidates backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, had won 90 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League party of three-time Premier Nawaz Sharif, had 62 seats.
With the results for 45 more seats still to come and a third major party in the mix, it was too soon for any party to declare victory.
But the lack of a majority did not stop Sharif's relatives and loyalists from appearing on a balcony at the party headquarters, waving to the crowds below. People threw rose petals on Sharif's car as he arrived to address party workers.
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PTI chairman Gohar Khan told Pakistani news channel Geo that the party's own count shows it securing a total of 150 seats, enough to form a government, though 169 seats are required for a majority in the 336-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.
Observers had expected the Pakistan Muslim League to prevail and put Sharif on track to another term as prime minister due to the disadvantages faced by Khan's party. Along with Khan being in prison and accruing more criminal convictions, election officials and police blocked his party from holding rallies and opening campaign offices, and its online events were blocked.
The PTI said the moves were intended to prevent them from competing in the election and gaining momentum with voters.
Sharif's most likely coalition partner would be the Pakistan People's Party of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the son of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was in third place with 51 seats. Final results are expected by midnight.
Pakistan's deeply divided political climate is unlikely to produce a strong coalition pushing for the betterment of the country, grappling with high inflation, year-round energy outages, and militant attacks. Sharif’s rivals, including Bhutto-Zardari, criticized him on the campaign trail so the coalition he seeks is apparently aimed at keeping Khan in prison and the PTI out of politics.
Sporadic violence and an unprecedented nationwide cellphone service shutdown overshadowed Thursday's voting.
The chief election commissioner previously said the results would be communicated to the oversight body by early Friday and released to the public after that, but this started only at midday. The Interior Ministry attributed the delay to a “lack of connectivity” resulting from security precautions.
Pakistan's election: Who's running, what's the mood and will anything change?
The Election Commission has also started announcing election results for the country's four provincial assemblies, a vote also held Thursday. The commission posted those results on its website more than 15 hours after polls closed.
Sharif and Khan's circumstances on election day represented a reversal of fortunes for the two men. Sharif returned to Pakistan in October after four years of self-imposed exile abroad to avoid serving prison sentences. Within weeks of his return, his convictions were overturned, leaving him free to seek a fourth term.
Kim says he has no desire for talks and repeats a threat to destroy South if provoked
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un restated he has no desire for diplomacy with South Korea and that the North would annihilate its rival if provoked, state media said Friday, in the latest of his belligerent statements that are raising tensions in the region.
During a visit to North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Thursday, Kim said his recent moves to cut ties with South Korea allow his military to take on a more aggressive posture “by securing lawfulness to strike and destroy (the South) whenever triggered."
North Korean leader Kim calls for war readiness while inspecting construction of warships
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months, with Kim elevating his weapons demonstrations and threats and the United States, South Korea and Japan strengthening their combined military exercises in response.
While most South Korean officials and experts have downplayed the possibility that Kim has real intent to engage in a war, concerns about a direct military provocation have grown as the North may try to ramp up pressure in an election year in South Korea and the United States.
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The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Kim said he took the initiative to “shake off the unrealistic pretense of dialogue and cooperation with the (South) Korean puppets who sought the collapse of our republic.” The agency said Kim on his visit to the ministry was accompanied by his daughter, thought to be named Kim Ju Ae, who some experts believe is being groomed as a future leader.
Kim Jong Un’s remarks came weeks after he declared to his rubber-stamp parliament that North Korea was abandoning its long-standing objective of a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered the rewriting of its constitution to cement the South as its most hostile foreign adversary.
The North has since shut down government departments that handled affairs with the South, tore down a major unification monument and abolished laws that had governed past economic projects with the South.
Experts say Kim’s attempts to recalibrate relations with the South, which come amid a testing spree of potentially nuclear-capable weapons targeting neighboring rivals and the United States, are aimed at reducing Seoul’s voice and eventually forcing direct negotiations with Washington over the nuclear standoff. His long-term goal is to force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.
Other analysts say Kim may want to raise tensions with South Korea to maintain a sense of external threat for his domestic audience. Kim’s government has recently been strengthening campaigns to remove the influence of South Korean pop culture and language amongst his population, which he may see as beneficial to reinforcing the North’s national identity and prolonging his family’s dynastic rule.
In a pre-recorded interview with local television that aired Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol described Kim’s government as “irrational” actors who are putting further strain on North Korea’s broken economy by aggressively expanding the country’s collection of nuclear weapons and missiles.
“We need to keep that in mind as we prepare to counter their security threats or provocations, preparing not just for actions based on rational judgments but also actions based on irrational conclusions,” Yoon said.
Pakistan votes for a new parliament as militant attacks surge and jailed leader's party cries foul
Pakistanis braved cold winter weather and the threat of violence to vote for a new parliament Thursday a day after twin bombings claimed at least 30 lives in the worst election-related violence ahead of the contested elections.
Tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at polling stations to ensure security. Still, on the eve of the election, a pair of bombings at election offices in restive southwestern Baluchistan province killed at least 30 people and wounded more than two dozen others.
The balloting has also been marred by allegations from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan that its candidates were denied a fair chance at campaigning. The cricket star-turned-Islamist politician — ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022 — is behind bars and banned from running, though he still commands a massive following. However, it's unclear if his angry and disillusioned supporters will turn up at the polls in great numbers.
The election comes at a critical time for this nuclear-armed nation, an unpredictable Western ally bordering Afghanistan, China, India and Iran — a region rife with hostile boundaries and tense relations. Pakistan’s next government will face huge challenges, from containing unrest, overcoming an intractable economic crisis to stemming illegal migration.
Read: Pakistan's election: Who's running, what's the mood and will anything change?
Fazal Hayyat, 38, a driver, was one of the first voters in the northwestern city of Peshawar. “I am happy that I became the first one to exercise the right to vote at a polling station,” he told reporters.
Sikandar Sultan Raja, the head of the Election Commission of Pakistan, said the polling began across the country despite Wednesday's bombings in Baluchistan. “We will ensure the holding of free and fair elections,” he said. “People should vote for the candidates of their choice without any fear,."
International observers are also voting polling stations after being given permission by Islamabad.
People in Pakistan's major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Multan, were lining up at polling stations to cast vote. Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also went to a polling station in Lahore to cast his vote. He Wednesday night told a the Geo news channel that his brother Nawaz Sharif will be their candidate for the office of prime minister if his part gets majority in the parliament after the vote.
The weather on voting day was cold but clear. Mobile phone service was suspended after the previous day's bombings, leaving people unable to talk to relatives who went to cast ballots and political parties unable to contact supporters. The statement from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said the decision was made to maintain law and order. It did not say when the suspension would be lifted.
As many as 44 political parties are vying for a share of the 266 seats that are up for grabs in the National Assembly, or the lower house of parliament. An additional 70 seats are reserved for women and minorities in the 336-seat house.
After the election, the new parliament will choose the country’s next prime minister, and the deep political divisions make a coalition government seem more likely. Separately, elections are also taking place Thursday for the nation's four provincial assemblies.
The last time parliamentary elections were held in 2018, when Khan came to power, a little more than half of the country's electorate of some 127 million voters cast ballots. If no single party wins a simple majority, the first-placed gets a chance to form a coalition government, relying on allies in the house.
Read: Twin bombings at Pakistan political offices kill at least 26 a day before voting begins
The top contender is the Pakistan Muslim League party of three-time former Prime Minister Sharif who returned to the country last October after four years of self-imposed exile abroad to avoid serving prison sentences at home. Within weeks of his return, his convictions were overturned, leaving him free to seek a fourth term in office.
With his archrival Khan sidelined and in prison, Sharif seems to have a pretty straight path to the premiership, backed by his younger brother, former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is likely to play an important role in any Sharif-led Cabinet.
The Pakistan People's Party is a strong contender, with a power base in the south, and is led by a rising star in national politics — Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The Sharifs and Bhutto-Zardari are traditional rivals but have joined forces against Khan in the past, and Bhutto-Zardari served as foreign minister until last August, during Shehbaz Sharif's term as premier.
If Khan's supporters stay away from the polls, analysts predict the race will come down to the parties of Nawaz Sharif and Bhutto-Zardari, both eager to keep Khan's party out of the picture. As Bhutto-Zardari is unlikely to secure the premiership on his own, he could still be part of a Sharif-led coalition government.
For Khan, convicted on charges of graft, revealing state secrets and breaking marriage laws — and sentenced to three, 10, 14 and seven years, to be served concurrently — the vote is a stark reversal of fortunes from the last election when he became premier.
Candidates from Khan’s party have been forced to run as independents after the Supreme Court and Election Commission said they can't use the party symbol — a cricket bat on voting slips — to help illiterate voters find them on the ballots.
The undoing of Khan and the resurrection of the Sharif political dynasty have given the impression of a predetermined outcome, and “it may be too late to change that perception,” according to Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
On Tuesday, the United Nation’s top human rights body warned of a “pattern of harassment” against members of Khan’s party, which claims it was subjected to a “reign of terror” and that it has been prevented from holding hold rallies like Sharif's party. Authorities deny the allegations.
Pakistanis, like people in many other impoverished nations, grapple with sustained high inflation, rising poverty levels, daily gas outages and hourslong electricity blackouts.
Read: Who is Bushra Bibi, Imran Khan’s mysterious third wife?
Since Khan’s ouster, Pakistan has relied on bailouts to resuscitate its spiraling economy, with a $3 billion package from the International Monetary Fund and wealthy allies like China and Saudi Arabia jumping in with cash and loans.
Twin bombings at Pakistan political offices kill at least 26 a day before voting begins
A pair of bombings at the election offices of a political party and an independent candidate in southwest Pakistan killed at least 26 people and wounded more than two dozen others, officials said Wednesday, the day before parliamentary elections are to be held.
The first attack hit the election office of Asfandyar Khan in Pashin, a district in Baluchistan province, said Jan Achakzai, the spokesperson for the provincial government. Officials said at least 15 people were killed in the attack and the wounded are being transported to a nearby hospital. Police said some of them were listed in critical condition.
Later Wednesday, another bombing at the elections office of politician Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam party in Qilla Saifullah town of Baluchistan killed at least 11 people, Acahkzai and local authorities said.
JUI is one of the leading radical Islamist party and is known for backing the Afghan Taliban. JUI’s religious schools are spread across the country, especially in the northwest and Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan. Many of Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders studied at Islamic seminaries operated by JUI, yet Rehman and his party leaders in recent years have been attacked by the Islamic State group and other militants. Rehman and scores of candidates from his party are contesting the elections from various parts of Pakistan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came a day before Pakistan holds parliamentary elections.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar denounced the bombings in Baluchistan, and conveyed his condolences to the families of those who died. He vowed that “every attempt to sabotage the law and order situation will be thwarted.”
Kakar said the government is committed to holding elections in a peaceful environment.
Caretaker Interior Minister Gohar Ejaz also denounced the bombings, saying no one would be allowed to sabotage the election process.
The bombings came despite the deployment of tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces across Pakistan to ensure peace following a recent surge in militant attacks in the country, especially in Baluchistan.
The outlawed Baluchistan Liberation Army has been behind multiple attacks on security forces, including a Jan. 30 attack on security facilities that killed six people.
In recent years, Pakistan has struggled to rein in surging militancy. Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups also have a strong presence in the Baluchistan province and have targeted civilians in recent years.
The gas-rich province at the border of Afghanistan and Iran has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades. Baluch nationalists initially wanted a share of the provincial resources, but later they initiated an insurgency for independence.
Violence ahead of elections and on the day of polling is common in Pakistan. In one of the worst such attacks, Pakistan’s two-time former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack in 2007, just minutes after she addressed an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Her son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, led the campaign for her Pakistan People’s Party until Tuesday night amid tight security.
A bombing at an independent candidate's election office kills 14 in Pakistan ahead of elections
A bomb exploded at an election office of an independent candidate in southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, the day before parliamentary elections are to be held, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than two dozen others, officials said.
The attack happened in Pashin, a district in Baluchistan province, said Jan Achakzai, the spokesperson for the provincial government. He said the wounded are being transported to a nearby hospital, and police said some of them were listed in critical condition.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a day before Pakistan holds parliamentary elections.
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The bombing came despite the deployment of tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces across Pakistan to ensure peace following a recent surge in militant attacks in the country, especially in Baluchistan.
The gas-rich Baluchistan province at the border of Afghanistan and Iran has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades. Baluch nationalists initially wanted a share of the provincial resources, but later they initiated an insurgency for independence.
Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups also have a strong presence in the province.